. >> while members are not supportive of the tax plan, john boehner are urging them to make compromise, something president obama senior adviser david axelrod called encouraging. >> there's money to be gained by closing some of these loopholes and applying them to deficit reductions. >> one half of those automatic spending cuts would affect the defense department's budget. david martin shows us what that means for the military. >> reporter: the dreaded sequestration would double the $500 billion in cuts the pentagon is already planning to make over the next decade. defense secretary panetta has not minced words. >> if sequestration goes into effect it's a disaster for national defense. >> reporter: the strategy of pivoting away from the wars in iraq and afghanistan towards the pacific and an emerging chinese superpower would come undone. >> all of that can go to hell if this congress doesn't face up and deal with the issue of sequestration. >> reporter: in this letter to senators panetta warned by the time sequestration was over the u.s. would have the smallest ground force since 1940,